Our World

We first visited Burma (Myanmar) in 2004 when we made our way from its far north after exiting China to the capital in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) and found it to be unlike anywhere else we have seen in Asia. Cutoff from the rest of the world over the last seventy years by war and military governments it development stopped and a slow decay of what was left pervaded the atmosphere. Returning to Yangon we were anxious to see if the last seven years and the recent election had brought about change.

First impression on landing does give some positive sense as the new airport is quite modern and operated extremely efficiently. The immigration authorities were as pleasant as one can expect in this part of the world and customs was unconcerned with the contents of our luggage. Stepping out of the terminal you begin to find that not a lot has changed and what has changed is not necessarily for the better.

The roads are wide and the sparse traffic moves slowly towards the center of the city. Gasoline is rationed so driving at a moderate speed comes from necessity rather than safety. Huge grinding buses stuffed to overflow with passengers meander all over the roads attempting to find one more passenger who will then have to fight for a handhold on the side of the bus. There is something missing from these roads and it is pointed out to us that ALL motorbikes are illegal in Yangon. The government decided they were too dangerous so now only the police can use them.

There are plenty of taxis available here but there is no doubt that every one of them was salvaged from junk yards throughout Asia. It was explained that these totally derelict vehicles cost at least $20,000 due to the inability to import new vehicles and the huge taxes levied by the government. In other parts of the world we have seen very old cars that have been maintained for thirty or more years but here what you find are wrecked cars that are literally held together by wire and tape .There is a small market for the latest Mercedes or Range Rover but only the super rich or well connected will ever own their own vehicle.

Could the motorbike ban be a way of restricting the movement of people throughout Yangon thereby making it much more difficult to mount the large protests that had taken place in the recent past? The government secretly built a “new capital” two hundred miles north of Yangon and moved the government there several years ago assuring that its operation could not be affected by any demonstrations. In Yangon what remains is the City Hall a beautiful orchid and white British colonial building that is surrounded with barbed wire barricades and menacing young soldiers with automatic weapons and teargas launchers. (sorry no pictures as haven’t seen such intense distrust since crossing the Russian border from Poland in 1971).

Politically it is not too difficult to find the government’s feelings.
The New Light of Myanmar, the government’s daily English language newspaper carries a series of slogans everyday across the back page of the paper. The following is a sample of them:

Only with stability and peace will the nation develop
Anarchy begets anarchy, not democracy
Democracy can be introduced only through constitution
Voice of America & Brritish Broadcasting Company sowing hatred
Do not allow ourselves to be swayed by killer broadcasts
Wipe out those inciting unrest and violence

Think maybe George Orwell had a lot of influence here?
NOTE: Effective August 17, 2011 the Burmese government ceased
using the slogan’s mentioned above in their newspaper. This should be considered a small step forward.

Development has come to Yangon in the form of several new office structures for Chinese business operations and a couple of modern condo buildings to house the staff. Meanwhile nothing has changed except that the tropics continue to erode away colonial Yangon. The good news is that much of this beautiful architecture would have disappeared decades ago, as it did in other parts of Asia, in modernization efforts if any had been able to take place. Provided real democracy returns to Burma there will be an amazing opportunity for developers to restore the colonial buildings and recreate the 1940’s atmosphere of old Burma. Unfortunately the road to normalcy is going to be a long one.

Thailand and the rest of southeast Asia has some incredibly beautiful Buddhist temples but in Yangon there is the Shwedagon. A dome that rises 322 feet is encased with solid gold and precious stones and there is a no more dazzling sight in this part of the world. Previously we visited the Shewedagon in brilliant sunlight under a bright blue sky but it was no less impressive with a light rain and gray sky. The weather may have dissuaded some of the pilgrims who usually file through in droves which was a positive advantage.

The weather however did create a situation that had a great impact on our Burma travel plans. On a very short flight of wet marble steps my feet went totally out from under me and when I landed my left side hit flush on the edge of one step. It was
immediately apparent that damage had been done. My breathing was not impaired but there was sharp pain associated with every breath and movement. Not wanting to
submit to whatever passes as Burmese medical care we decided to leave for Thailand the following day. Returning to our regular doctor in Chiang Mai for treatment we found that two ribs had been broken but no other serious damage done. We regretted cutting the trip short but we knew the balance of the trip couldn’t be completed with
that kind of injury. The areas we planned on visiting were places we had seen before so we will just have to get back there again in the future.

For the moment I am recovering from the rib injury greatly complicated by the fact that along the way I managed to contract a cold whose sneezing and coughing are
just lovely with broken ribs. Guess I needed a little adversity.